So, normally I sleep on my side or side/stomach, but a few times since I got my band, when I woke up in the morning, I had been sleeping on my back most of the night (according to my husband). On those days, my band felt much tighter. I had trouble swallowing pills, drinking my protein shake in the morning, etc. Yesterday was one of those days, and it was REALLY tight! I got a fill last Wednesday, the 16th, and he put in 1 cc. This was my second fill, and he had originally put in 1 1/2 cc, but when he had me try to drink water, and it took too long to go down, he took out 1/2 cc. I had been doing fine up until yesterday. I hadn't had a stuck episode or anything, but yesterday was the worst day I've had since I got my band, literally. Like worse than the day after surgery. It was SO tight and uncomfortable, painful even - I couldn't drink my normal protein shake for breakfast, couldn't get soup down for lunch; couldn't even suck on crackers or anything really. I ended up just trying to stay hydrated by sipping on water & lemonade and went to bed early. I made sure to sleep on my side and stomach last night, and am having only liquids today, but that tightness seems to be past now. I was able to get my protein shake down this morning and just had some thin broccoli cheddar soup for lunch. Anybody else have this experience with their band? I was starting to panic that something had gone wrong, that my band had slipped or something, even though I have never thrown up or even PB'd. I just think it's weird that sleeping on my back can affect the tightness of my band so dramatically, and I've never heard anyone else mention this. It's the only thing I can think of that could be causing this for me.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on one episode. If it becomes a trend then maybe make some changes. For me, I have no control over how I sleep so I've never equated the way I slept to tightness.

Almost all of us experience some extra tightness in the mornings. A smaller stoma can be a result of so many other causes though? Excessive sodium consumption, TOM, altitude, sickness, stuck episodes, excessive carb consumption just to name a few.

I've read somewhere that when we lie down at night, blood seeks a level throughout the body. Then, after we awaken and are upright, the blood pools in the lower half of our body. I don't know if there's any validity to this theory but it's an interesting thought.

Well, that's kind of the thing - I think I am seeing a trend. I am most tight on the mornings when I have slept on my back. That's interesting what you've read about blood seeking a level throughout the body. I'll have to do some research on this. Thanks for your input!

I'm glad to see your post. I've been meaning to start a topic similar to this. I feel almost immediate tightness (in the form of a lump feeling in the middle of my chest) every time I lay on my back on the couch to watch tv. I try to avoid it whenever I can now. I don't really sleep on my back because it hurts my lower back too much. I'm assuming I would have the same feeling if I did sleep on my back. I have no idea what could cause this. Is it maybe causing the diaphragm to push on the band? I'm going to ask my NP next time I go in for a fill, but I don't plan on getting one for awhile.

Well, that's kind of the thing - I think I am seeing a trend. I am most tight on the mornings when I have slept on my back. That's interesting what you've read about blood seeking a level throughout the body. I'll have to do some research on this. Thanks for your input!

Can you control your sleeping positions? I fall asleep on my left side and usually wake up on my back or slightly to the left. I'm sure I'm tossing and turning all night. But I only have control over the first few minutes.

Tightness should depend mostly on how much blood is in your stomach lining. The more blood, the more swelling you'll have and that will make your stoma opening smaller. Interesting subject though and you're the first to bring it up as far as I know but it looks like you have one other member who might be experiencing similar symptoms? Let us know what your research comes up with?

Ok so if you use the blood in the stomach lining theory I would guess that if you eat too close to bedtime there would be more blood gathered in that vicinity aiding with digestion. So maybe try to give yourself an earlier cutoff for eating and see if that helps. And I've read to really restrict your carbs before bedtime

Here is part of a post from a veteran bandster: 6. The band is tighter for most in the mornings, when you lie down this cause it to tighten further, something about how the saline moves around in the band which causes it to get tighter when you lie down.

That makes sense...

I think I figured out the real culprit in this mystery (although I do believe that sleeping on my back does make my band tighter in the mornings than it usually is anyway). It happened again Saturday morning when I woke up, and I retraced what I had done Friday night before I went to bed and what I had done the other night before I went to bed when I had trouble the whole next day trying to eat absolutely anything. It was that delicious chocolatey goodness from Satan - Nutella!! I was craving something sweet before I went to bed, and we had some Nutella leftover from a cookout we had a while back when we used it to make s'mores. I thought a couple of spoonfuls of that surely wouldn't be too bad for me. Well, here's the problem - I've thought I had a slight sensitivity to hazelnuts because whenever I have hazelnut flavored coffee, or even nutella previously, my tongue would get little sore spots, almost like blisters on it. When I woke up on Saturday morning, that's what it felt like in my esophagus, and in my band - like the whole thing was covered with blisters. I could only swallow clear liquids pretty much all day. I took a couple of Benadryl and tried to just sip on clear liquids all day to make it through the day. I took a couple more Benadryl before I went to bed, and was fine when I woke up yesterday. Sore esophagus gone, could eat (albeit soups & mushies) again, and will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, try to eat NUTELLA ever again!!!!! JEEZ!! I feel so stupid!!!!! I think I'm going to call this a full-fledged allergy to hazelnuts at this point. Thanks to you all for your input! Appreciate your help and advice, and just being there for me as I tried to solve this mystery.